Ivan Reitman Biography

Ivan Reitman, OC (born October 27, 1946) is a Slovak-Canadian film producer and director, best known for his comedy work, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. He is the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 2000.

Early life

Reitman was born in Komrno, Czechoslovakia (now in Slovakia), the son of Klara and Ladislav "Leslie" Reitman. Reitman's parents were Jewish; his mother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and his father was an underground resistance fighter. His family came to Canada as refugees in 1950. Reitman attended Oakwood Collegiate in Toronto and was a member of the Twintone Four singing group.

Reitman attended McMaster University, receiving a Bachelor of Music in 1969. At McMaster he produced and directed many short films.

Career

Reitman's first producing job was with the then-new station CITY-TV in Toronto. CITY was also the home of the first announcing job of his later friend and collaborator Dan Aykroyd. However, Reitman's tenure at CITY was short and he was fired during his first year by station owner Moses Znaimer.

In Toronto, he produced the stage production Spellbound (1973) which evolved into Broadway production The Magic Show.

Reitman's first commercial film ventures were as producer of two films for director David Cronenberg, Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1976). His big break came when he produced National Lampoon's Animal House in 1978 and directed Meatballs in 1979. From there, he directed and produced a number of comedies including Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Legal Eagles (1986), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Dave (1993), Junior (1994), Six Days, Seven Nights (1998), Evolution (2001), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), and No Strings Attached (2011).

In the early 1990s, Reitman began to direct fewer films, but increased his role as a producer and executive producer through his company, Northern Lights Entertainment. He helped to produce the animated film Heavy Metal (1981), as well as the live-action films Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Beethoven (1992), Beethoven's 2nd (1993), Space Jam (1996), Howard Stern's film Private Parts (1997), Road Trip (2000), Old School (2003), EuroTrip (2004) and Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (2006).

Reitman is a founder of the McMaster Film Board at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. In 2007, Reitman was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. Reitman founded The Montecito Picture Company, a film production company located just south of Santa Barbara, founded in 2000.

He next produced the comedy I Love You, Man (2009), starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. Also in 2009, he produced the Academy Award-nominated film, Up in the Air, directed by his son Jason Reitman. Later, Reitman had planned to direct the erotic thriller Chloe (2009), but he couldn't attract the cast he wanted; so Reitman decided to only serve as a producer and asked Atom Egoyan to direct the film. Chloe has since enjoyed commercial success and became Egoyan's biggest moneymaker ever.

New York magazine, citing no sources, stated in March 2007 that Sony Pictures Entertainment wanted to replace Reitman on Ghostbusters III with a younger director, but that Reitman's original contract precluded this. In early 2010, it appeared as if Reitman would direct the film, but in September 2014, Paul Feig was officially set to direct a new film, which was released in 2016. Reitman also co-produced the biographical film Hitchcock, released on November 23, 2012.

Reitman directed the 2014 sports drama Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner.

Personal life

Reitman has been married to Genevive Robert since 1976. Reitman has a son and two daughters. His son, Jason Reitman, is a film director best known for his films Juno, Thank You for Smoking and Up in the Air, for which he won a Golden Globe for his screenplay. His daughter Catherine Reitman is a member of The Groundlings comedy troupe in Los Angeles. His other daughter, Caroline Reitman, is a sophomore at Santa Barbara City College. Reitman's wife is a convert to Judaism.

In 2009, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada "for his contributions as a director and producer, and for his promotion of the Canadian film and television industries".

In April 2011 he received the Mayor's Prize at his native city of Komrno, Slovakia.

Recurring cast members

Actor	Meatballs (1979)	Stripes (1981)	Ghostbusters (1984)	Legal Eagles (1986)	Twins (1988)	Ghostbusters II (1989)	Kindergarten Cop (1990)	Dave (1993)	Junior (1994)	Evolution (2001)	No Strings Attached (2011)	Draft Day (2014)
Dan Aykroyd
Danny DeVito
Brian Doyle-Murray
Kevin Dunn
Ernie Hudson
Kevin Kline
Frank Langella
David Margulies
Rick Moranis
Bill Murray
Annie Potts
Harold Ramis
Pamela Reed
Arnold Schwarzenegger								1
Sigourney Weaver

¹ Schwarzenegger's appearance is a cameo as himself when he was chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

Filmography

Year	Film	Director	Producer	Other	Notes
1971	Foxy Lady			Composer and editor
1973	Cannibal Girls			Executive producer
1975	Shivers			Music supervisor
1976	Death Weekend			Music supervisor
1977	Rabid			Executive producer, Music supervisor
1978	Animal House
1979	Meatballs				Golden Reel Award
1981	Stripes
	Heavy Metal
1984	Ghostbusters				Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film
1986	Legal Eagles			Writer
1988	Twins
1989	Ghostbusters II
1990	Kindergarten Cop
1992	Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
	Beethoven
1993	Dave
1994	Junior
1996	Space Jam
1997	Fathers' Day
	Private Parts
1998	Six Days, Seven Nights
2000	Road Trip
2001	Evolution
2006	My Super Ex-Girlfriend
2009	Post Grad
	Up in the Air				Nominated"?Academy Award for Best Picture
	Chloe
2011	No Strings Attached
2012	Hitchcock
2014	Draft Day
2016	Ghostbusters
2017	Baywatch
	Bastards
TBA	Triplets